Further reflections. Thinking on the subject of bass, I decided to switch out my Thorens for the VPI. I had replaced the stock head shell on the thorens some time ago, and that tightened up the bass considerably, but the bass through the scout in my main system is awesome, so why not switch?

OH Yeah. Not only does the phono 2 scale up with ease, but there is even more bass, as i had imagined, and even more refinement in the midrange and upper register. Think I will keep the scout in the bedroom for a while.

I can't believe there haven't been any new posts here for over 3 months! I'd like to add my voice to all those who've been praising the Vista Phono 2. It's been in my system since August and I couldn't be happier. I never tried any of the Phono 1 iterations so can't compare them, but the Phono 2 is definitely a winner. Smooth, accurate, shows me immediately the effect of any changes in cables, VTA, VTF, etc. Just quietly (very quietly!) and competently goes about its job without drawing attention to itself. And with so much versatility in setting loading and gain, it should see me through any cartridge upgrades for a very long time.

My thanks to all the early adopters who gave positive reports and helped me make my decision to buy one. And special thanks to Boris for designing and building such a great, affordable phono preamp (and just being an all around stand-up guy).

Let's see....put it in a solid piece of cnc aluminum, engraved of course and sell it overpriced for $1400 4k. People will gravitate to it. Carry on! I'm done.

Haha, I had to design small products, so that customers can hide the ugly little boxes However, I do realize that I need to up my game when it comes to aesthetics, and I am working on it. I am still hesitant to make and sell $100 of sound-making electronics packaged in a $1000 box, where 90% of material has been milled and thrown out and many kilowatt hours of energy wasted on machining. I am happy to see that I am not the only one: my customers certainly have similar thinking as I have, and I cannot express how much I appreciate it.

I can't believe there haven't been any new posts here for over 3 months! I'd like to add my voice to all those who've been praising the Vista Phono 2. It's been in my system since August and I couldn't be happier. I never tried any of the Phono 1 iterations so can't compare them, but the Phono 2 is definitely a winner. Smooth, accurate, shows me immediately the effect of any changes in cables, VTA, VTF, etc. Just quietly (very quietly!) and competently goes about its job without drawing attention to itself. And with so much versatility in setting loading and gain, it should see me through any cartridge upgrades for a very long time.

My thanks to all the early adopters who gave positive reports and helped me make my decision to buy one. And special thanks to Boris for designing and building such a great, affordable phono preamp (and just being an all around stand-up guy).

Michael

Hi Michael,

Thanks for refreshing this thread - appreciate it!

For those who are interested, there is a thread on Polk Audio forum, with reviews from from Phono-2 tour organized by Skip from Audio Thesis.

Haha, I had to design small products, so that customers can hide the ugly little boxes However, I do realize that I need to up my game when it comes to aesthetics, and I am working on it. I am still hesitant to make and sell $100 of sound-making electronics packaged in a $1000 box, where 90% of material has been milled and thrown out and many kilowatt hours of energy wasted on machining. I am happy to see that I am not the only one: my customers certainly have similar thinking as I have, and I cannot express how much I appreciate it.

Hey Boris.....

Keep doing exactly as you are doing -- put your $$ and efforts into performance and not bling. We apprecitate it.

My fault, I mentioned to Boris on the Pre Pro to use the blue LED. don't like green, red, orange, or white, well white maybe.It sounds better with blue! Actually aqua? Don't like it? snip the + leg on it. OR, put in a resistor to knock it back. don't know how? You don't deserve owning it.

Dampening the case? Don't be absurd. It's not big enough to cause any vibrato.Got it on your SUB? Again, you don't deserve owning it.

Noise hum etc.? Move it. Here, I have to keep it away from the fat Trannies (not to be confused with Trannies from the West Coast) on the Cronus Mag II amp. OOOpps was that political? Ban me.

It looks great as is! Functionality and sound is what counts. That is accomplished.Funny what everyone's priorities are?

I do realize that I need to up my game when it comes to aesthetics, and I am working on it. I am still hesitant to make and sell $100 of sound-making electronics packaged in a $1000 box, where 90% of material has been milled and thrown out and many kilowatt hours of energy wasted on machining.

I still plan to spend very high percentage of design time behind the drawing board and with prototypes hooked up to the instruments and in various listening setups. But I will give it little more time to think about more eye-pleasing enclosures, so you do not need to hide Vista stuff when guests come for dinner

You may have seen what I've done with packaging of the Phono-1/-2: it took me a little time but I think the new package is protecting the units well, and it's not a total sore to the eyes. Probably some of this stuff is easier to outsource to experts, but I am such a big fan of vertical integration that I find it difficult to relinquish control. I prefer to pow-wow with my inner circle of trusted associates and friends, to have complete understanding of every process. Some people call me detail-oriented, the more honest ones just say that I'm PITA and they are probably right. As long as we make stuff that I can proudly stand behind, all is good.

Gotta giggle things up a bit. Just sifting through life.Some just get too serious on trivial observations comparisons.I get sick of reading nonsence especially lately.Oh man, we got nonsence out there!!!

Hi Borris, Glad to see all is well with you. So now that the Phono 2 is a big hit, are you gonna discontinue the phono 1? It's only a $100 difference. If not, then maybe, bring it up to the phono 2 level, but leave out the dip switches. I guess you already have sockets for resistive and capacitance on the phono 1, just add the way to change gain and charge $50 less for same sound but no adjustments. Just an idea.

Also, what speakers are you using to power your Spark? Thanks for the info.

There are no plans to discontinue Phono-1. It is still a viable option for people having multiple turntable setups or dual cartridges (several customers bought two, some even three Phono-1's). Other than more involved gain and load setting procedure (http://www.vistaaudio.com/products/phono-1mkII/settings.htm) there is not that much difference between the two preamps.

Spark loves Omegas (https://omegaloudspeakers.com/), it's a match made in heaven. Truth to be told, one can't go wrong with Louis's designs. I currently use Spark in my office with the new Dayens Grande Nano. An amazing desktop speaker.

Thanks for asking! There are several projects on the drawing board, but I'm still not sure which one will be the first to see light of day. The two developments that occupy me most are Phono-3 (hey, you guessed the name ) and Spark-T (a version of Spark with tubes). I made a tube buffer few years ago, but was not happy with the final result (I was ambitious with the goals and concept, measurements were great, but sound fell short of my expectations). I will be working on a new buffer design for my OEM partners at Symbol Audio, will implement what I learned last time; the bonus is that it will pair with the custom active preamp of my design, followed by Spark, so I have the electronics chain under control.

Thanks for asking! There are several projects on the drawing board, but I'm still not sure which one will be the first to see light of day. The two developments that occupy me most are Phono-3 (hey, you guessed the name ) and Spark-T (a version of Spark with tubes). I made a tube buffer few years ago, but was not happy with the final result (I was ambitious with the goals and concept, measurements were great, but sound fell short of my expectations). I will be working on a new buffer design for my OEM partners at Symbol Audio, will implement what I learned last time; the bonus is that it will pair with the custom active preamp of my design, followed by Spark, so I have the electronics chain under control.

Should be a fun year!

Best,Boris

Hi Boris,

I like the idea of a Spark-T. Have you givin any thought of a Spark-T as just a line stage without the amp section,or an option to bypass the amp?Just a small hi quality preamp with 1-2 inputs and 1 set of outputs?

Not sure how I missed this post, it must be that notification had problems progressing to my mailbox.

I am working on a separate preamp with 3 inputs, one of which is phono. It's custom designed to work with Spark power amplifier in analog setup (it has a nice feature to turn on turntable when Phono input is selected). First listening tests are promising, but it's still too early to tell if this will stay a custom product or it will progress to a fully released production model.